Eminem’s next album: a standing ovation for King Mathers?

This article deliberately conflates both highly speculated titles for Eminem’s next album. An album that Marshall Mathers recently announced on NYC Hot ’97 radio.

After a few years of hiatus, the return of Slim Shady seems imminent, which is an event in itself.

After rumors of his early retirement dating back to 2005, despite a strong denial from the artist himself, many listeners, fans and perhaps even close friends wondered if Eminem had decided to work more in the field of production or if he simply buried his bad character for good.

But maybe Eminem’s comeback isn’t musically written in the same terms as expected. Perhaps Eminem intends to create a completely new style. If he doesn’t, he might raise Slim Shady from his grave, who knows?

As I write these lines, they are nothing more than empty assumptions. All we can do is wait and see.

Eminem is truly a phenomenon in rap history. His detractors claim that he used his skin color to get to the top more easily.

In fact: among all the white rap artists (excuse me, I really hate to talk about the color of an artist’s skin, but this element is necessary, if I want to prove my point), Eminem is the only one with mainstream appeal in the entire world. world in the world of hip-hop.

Actually, Eminem is one of the most talked about contemporary rap artists.

Many people tried to imitate his style, but they all failed before achieving anything consistent.

So why did Eminem, also known to the public as Marshall Mathers, have such an impact on hip hop?

The first reason is undeniably Eminem’s brilliance. The deeper I’ve studied his music over the years, the more his intelligence in handling compound syllables, his subtle sense of humor, his ability to use his own weaknesses to his greatest advantage, his honesty in describing situations of real life. through, I was impressed.

Some people have always objected that Eminem owes everything to Dr. Dre. If it’s true that brilliance isn’t everything in the cutthroat world of the music industry, Eminem’s early work is the full expression of musical genius.

A song like Biterphobia is a subtle musical composition, both lyrically and instrumentally. It was released in 1994. It could hardly be objected that the young Marshall Mathers had the means to pay a ghost writer at the time he was struggling to survive, which means the young man was a true (unknown) lyrical genius. Other songs on the Slim Shady EP have the same brilliance in writing; one has to admit that the early Eminem excels at storytelling.

Second-hand, whether his detractors like it or not, Eminem is believable as a white man in a black man’s world.

As he said in a previous interview dating back to 1999, Marshall Mathers used to live across the black side of 8 Mile, because his mother couldn’t pay the rent on the white side.

Fully immersed in hip hop culture ever since his uncle Ronnie introduced him to Ice T’s CD Breaking, Eminem also grew up in the harsh world of 8 Mile, where he had to fight to make his dream come true, despite the stress racial prevalent in the early 1990’s

Additionally, and despite the climate of hate and suspicion between the black and white communities, Marshall Mathers built some real friendships with his fellow blacks. D 12 is not a group that was born out of professional interest as is often the case in the music industry, but was the result of brothers (RIP Proof is the main founder of the group) who shared the same passion for the environment.

Third, you also have to remember that Eminem doesn’t fit the usual artistic stereotype.

His down-to-earth attitude, his self-loathing, his honesty in exposing unpleasant facts and situations, his modest origins, his accessibility in terms of sharing the details of his life story soon made Eminem very likable in the eyes of the public. hip hop fans.

Eminem soon became the poster child for someone people could relate to. His acclaim is totally justified in that sense, since he managed to break the distance between artist and listener, creating an unprecedented closeness and complicity with the fan.

Perhaps Eminem is also the prototype of a walking contradiction: his generosity in laying out so many details of his life story soon became the boomerang that would hit him hard in terms of the freedom he longed for. Stalkers of all kinds would soon make her private life a living nightmare.

Since he was catapulted to the top until now, Eminem has offered his listeners a prolific work with very varied artistic collaborations.

His second album, Marshall Mathers LP, probably beats any of his other albums, because it’s a subtle combination of poetry, creativity, social commentary, impact, and an invaluable sense of humor, at least in my eyes. Also, Marshall Mathers is an artist who managed to create a specific atmosphere thanks to his subtle mastery of the English language.

A song like Stan has the depth of Rimbaud’s poem Le Dormeur Du Val. Like the French poet, Eminem paints a picture that becomes more dramatic and darker as time goes by.

Later, the song 8 Mile Road, for example, is based on similar [i] sounds that imply a constant struggle. A similar structure can also be found on Yellow Brick Road, a subtle construction of syllabic words that will remain like a listening ear to the monotonous sound of a train on the rails.

Very few songs beat Drug Ballad, a beautiful combination of instrumental and words that allows the listener to enter the forbidden world of a drug addict, making him feel the sensation of drowning in alcohol. The instrumentals really make you feel the hellish spiral that the addict is trapped in with no way out.

Encore is probably the worst of their albums. Despite some well written songs like Mosh, he indicated some artistic fatigue and some of his songs need to be renewed. The commercial dimension of some songs on Encore really disappointed me.

By stating this for a time, I raised some controversy. But I really don’t care.

I am not here to praise Eminem in any case. As a music journalist, I am here to offer an honest and objective perception of the artist from a professional point of view. I owe my readers the truth.

Eminem’s strength also lies in the fact that he manages to use the darkest situations in life that he went through to transform them into artistic creativity.

Since 2005, Eminem has been through very painful events. The death of his best friend Proof is probably one of the worst sorrows a human being can go through. I trust that Eminem’s will to honor the memory of his friend will allow him to draw from his heart the most beautiful and creative lyrical treasures.

Then the world will truly be yours because the crowd of listeners will swoop in and crown their microphone king to a standing ovation.